1. The public explosure comes from the fact that there aren't any tool or resource in this site to talk with the mod team or even report mods... the issue can be deu the website itself but most hate over the mod team comes from the fact the banned guy didn't even know the reason of the ban... how the intuitw to ban anybody without the guy knows why him had banned... hint: a email is better than PSNID, Live ID or Nintendo Code.
Another point is the fact the people in general, the mods included, are confusion the terms "trolling", "bashing" and "spamming"... most bans didn't fits in neither word and the mods use it to ban guys.
2. There are no negativity or the the users you listed leave the site because that negativity... I think the mod team are making confusion with the excitement created by the Next Gen and negativity... it is fine because it is the fisrt generation change after VGC creation (VGC was created after one year of the generation start).
But any change for better is good for all... so the mod team have my support in this change.
The others point I have no opinion about... they are objective rules so easy to understand and take it... I just think the 6 is useless because the report button itself is useless but that is only my opinion.
Good luck with the changes.